Mandy Gonzalez and Christopher Jackson have big plans this weekend—and you’re invited. “It’s such a great idea to have a festival where Broadway fans can go for a few days and have everything they could possibly want,” Gonzalez enthuses. “Shows, booths, all your favorite performers. There’s going to be a lot of thrills!”
She’s talking about the inaugural edition of The Festival (August 14–16), a three-day extravaganza of Broadway’s biggest stars performing across four outdoor stages on an idyllic riverfront property in Kingston, New York.
Encompassing everything from headline concerts to campfire singalongs to a RENT original Broadway cast reunion, this Coachella-meets-Broadway bash has attracted top-tier talent to share the spotlight upstate. Among the massive names on the marquee are Audra McDonald, Kelli O’Hara, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Alex Newell, Lena Hall, Eva Noblezada, Reeve Carney, and, of course, Gonzalez and Jackson.
It’ll be a fond reunion for those two Broadway favorites, who have come a long way since they both had their breakout roles in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 2008 Tony-winning musical In the Heights.
Gonzalez—who’s currently touring with a concert she created and performs with orchestras around the country, Everything I Know: The Music of Lin-Manuel Miranda—has played Elphaba in Wicked and Angelica in Miranda’s smash-hit Hamilton, and most recently won raves when she was the alternate for Nicole Scherzinger as Norma Desmond in the buzzy, Tony-winning revival of Sunset Blvd. Jackson, in addition to TV gigs in Bull and the Sex and the City sequel And Just Like That, was part of the now-legendary original cast of Hamilton—a show to which he’ll return this fall, reprising his Tony-nominated performance as George Washington.
Both Jackson and Gonzalez say they can’t wait to be part of this first-ever fest for Broadway enthusiasts.
“I love getting to see fans, and in settings like this I feel like I can reach out and connect on such a deep level,” Gonzalez says. “I really love that.”
“It’s all about the audience,” Jackson agrees. “Broadway has expanded so much in so many ways—you can go on your phone now and watch a performance from the Tonys in 1982. Now to be able to build on that kind of connection, and make it even more personal, is really exciting. Theater’s all about creating moments specifically tailored for the people in the audience, and The Festival is a really exciting expansion of that.”
Both Jackson and Gonzalez say fans at the Festival can expect them to revisit many of the songs that have become the standards of their careers—plus some tunes you maybe haven’t heard from them before.
Gonzalez says she’s coming upstate with “a bucket list of dream songs.” There’ll be tunes by Miranda, of course, but also Disney tracks and a medley of hits by Gloria Estefan, the Latin pop icon Gonzalez has loved since she was a kid. “I’m living my middle school dream!” she gushes.
For his part, Jackson says he’s looking forward to revisiting some of the Broadway scores that he’s performed over his varied career, which includes stints in The Lion King, Memphis, and Hell’s Kitchen. “At one point I looked back at the list of shows that I’ve done, and … it’s a lot!” he laughs.
Of course, he’ll also reunite onstage with Gonzalez to sing “When You’re Home,” their signature duet from In the Heights.
“It’s one of my favorite moments of my entire lifetime, singing that song with Mandy on Broadway,” Jackson says. “Whenever we get to touch that song again, it’s like it was 20 years ago.”
“It’s such a special bond,” Gonzalez adds of the enduring friendship forged during their time in In the Heights. “Anytime Chris and I get to connect and make music together, it’s the best.”
She’s excited, too, about participating in an event that helps artists and audiences alike connect with the love for theater they’ve had since childhood. “It’s like we’re all putting on a show out in the backyard,” she says. “I know that for myself, as a theater lover from a very young age, I would have loved to be able to come to something like this.”
Both she and Jackson also look forward to reconvening with the Broadway community in a new setting—and to cheering on all their colleagues at every chance they get.
“I want to see Audra do a show as much as everyone else, and hear Mandy sing songs I’ve never heard her do!” Jackson says. “We’re not just artists. We get to be fans at the same time.”
